Bubba Wallace's 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign has been a rollercoaster, but his bosses at 23XI Racing are keeping a steady hand on the wheel. Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan, the team's co-owners, have given a frank evaluation of the No. 23 driver's performance so far this season.
Wallace currently sits 10th in the standings with zero wins, one top-five finish, and six top-10 finishes through the first half of the year. Meanwhile, teammate Tyler Reddick has been on a tear, racking up five victories and eight top-fives in the No. 45 car.
Despite the gap in results, Hamlin says Wallace is right where the team expects him to be. “I think he’s right on pace from where we expect him to be,” Hamlin told On3. “I think that again, he’s had some tough breaks early on, but the speed is there. That’s what I really look at is like, where’s your pace? Where’s your average running position? All those things really, really matter to overall performance. So I think that he’s where he needs to be to make a deep playoff run, and that’s all we can ask.”
Hamlin's assessment comes after a season marked by both promise and frustration for Wallace. He's had a scary crash in Texas practice that he walked away from, and he's been involved in a heated exchange with Christopher Bell after a disappointing finish. But he's also locked in a major sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola for the rest of the season, signaling confidence from the business side.
While Wallace's bosses are mostly satisfied, they'd clearly like to see more wins. Reddick's dominance has raised the bar, and Wallace has openly wondered when it will be his turn to celebrate. Hamlin, however, points to the underlying metrics as a sign that Wallace is building toward something bigger.
“I think that they hit a home run with it, and it’s not fluff, and everyone knows that I’m not afraid to be critical of decisions that are made in rule changes, but I think that it’s rewarding the best,” Hamlin said of NASCAR's new championship format. “Tyler Reddick’s been the best. I feel like we’ve been the next best. And if you look at the standings, it’s in order of where it should be.”
Wallace and his team will look to turn that speed into results in the second half of the season. With the playoffs looming, the pressure is on to prove that his bosses' faith is well-placed.
